For many years there has been an interest in wheel ornamentation and, in particular, wheel lighting for automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, and other wheeled vehicles.
The motivation for wheel lighting is a combination of aesthetic and safety enhancement. As early as 1926, there is patent lore on those seeking to achieve lighting of the wheel, for example, Styer, U.S. Pat. No. 1,643,593. Over a hundred patents have been filed in regard to the quest to achieve the general goal of wheel lighting.
Prior art wheel lighting has been focused, for the most part, on the placement of lights on or near the wheel for ornamentation or safety. In such cases, the lights are in clear view of the observer and the primary light that reaches the observer is direct light from the source, not reflected light off the wheel surface to the observer.
A wheel light that illuminates the surface of the wheel can provide an observer with an aesthetically pleasing display of the wheel. Prior art wheel lighting schemes have achieved illumination of the wheel surface to obtain such an effect by reflecting light off the wheel surface. For example, Cabanatan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,426, teaches a scheme that employs a rigid arm mounted to the frame of an automobile. At the end of the rigid arm, a light bulb is mounted in an electrical socket, which in turn, is electrically connected to the power source of the automobile. One prior art scheme employs fiber optics to direct light, generated on the frame of the vehicle, to the wheel surface.
Such schemes are costly and difficult to implement due to the mounting required and the number of distinct automobile frames that must be accommodated.
Prior art wheel illumination schemes avoid positioning the lights on the wheel due to a number of concerns, including robustness and space availability. However, mounting the lights on the frame of a vehicle is less elegant and not as aesthetically pleasing. Moreover, the frame-mounted wheel illumination device increases the overall width of the vehicle, thereby increasing the required clearance and likelihood of damage.